Pages

Friday, January 25, 2013

Beck's Song Reader as Paper Art

Singer-songwriter Beck released a new collection of songs last month, interestingly not as an album, but as a book... it's called Song Reader. That's right, a book of sheet music and many pages of art. Beck's premise for not recording the songs himself was to encourage fans to experiment with their own versions. And if they wanted to share them... so much the better! They can do that at songreader.net

Well-known typographer Jessica Hische created the cover art... an appealing design with graceful scrolls extending from the words.

Beck's avid fan, Ham, who runs Japanese fan site Hambeck, is not a musician. Nonetheless, she was inspired to contribute to the project by recreating the cover design via her paper cutting and quilling talent.

Not only that... her mesmerizing motions are backed by the singing of one of the book's songs by Beck fan Max Miller, who is accompanied by Rachel Roth. The recording allowed Ham's work to be shared on Songreader.net... a win for all involved!

Ham brings the graphic design to life as we watch her steady fingers apply the tiniest dots of glue and position hand cut scrolls, letters, and musical notes. For the curious, Ham used an NT Cutter art knife and quick-drying Konishi glue.

As a music fan, I can completely appreciate her passion and the many hours devoted to this project.

I love Beck and have been a fan of his for years. He always pushes the envelope and tries new things. I admire him for that and feel that's a sign of a true artist. I can't wait to hear what his fans do with this album.

How wonderful that the album artwork has been re-made with paper art! Long live paper art and quilling! Ham's work is so impressive.